China not a threat to India: Krishna

Downplaying occasional Chinese incursions into Indian territory, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday said that China was "not a threat to India," but added that cooperation and competition can sometime "overlap" between the the two countries.

"Let me reiterate that the government of India does not view China or China's development as a threat," Krishna said at the launch of two books on China here.

"That said, we recognise that cooperation and competition can sometime overlap, as it is not possible to have a perfect congruence of interests between the two nations as vast and diverse as India and China," he said.

"Such competition or lack of cooperation must not be misunderstood as antagonism," he added.

The book release function was organised by the Observer Research Foundation, a public policy think tank.

Stressing that India and China have stakes in each other's prosperity, Krishna said differences between the two countries should be resolved through "dialogue and diplomacy."

Responding to a question on Chinese intrusions into Indian territory, Krishna attributed them or differences in perception about the Line of Actual Control that serves as border between the two countries.

"We have a long border with China which has not been demarcated. We are looking forward to an amicable settlement," he said.

"We go by perception, but sometimes there are bound to be differences," he said, adding that the boundary negotiations between the two countries are "on the right track."

India and China have held thirteen rounds of negotiations to resolve their decades-old boundary dispute, but without any breakthrough.